Percy Jackson

Percy must've fallen asleep while he was sitting in his chair because the next thing he knew, he was waking up to some random guy groaning in a bed. He almost forgot where he was or why he was there until the memories of last night came back to him. The Minotaur, the new guy, the scars.

Speaking of the scars, the demigod's shirt was still off. He sat up and groaned, stretching his arms. Percy stared at him, he was lanky, nowhere near as muscular as himself. If it came down to a fight, Percy would easily win.

"Where am I?" The demigod slowly asked with a growing confused look.

"You're in the Big House, my dude." Percy said with a smile. He had no idea who this was but he reckoned he minus well be friendly. He wasn't about to go about it like Annabeth did, asking 21 questions and confusing the ever living fuck out of a guy who just woke up.

The demigod turned his head, "Wait, you're that guy! The one who killed that weird bull dude!"

"My name's Percy." Percy grinned at the boy's reaction.

"Dude! That was awesome! You had that cool sword and were like—" He did a swinging motion on the bed only to fall off onto the floor. Percy hid his snicker, he shouldn't have been laughing but it really was funny.

"Come on," He said, helping the now groaning and red-faced demigod up, "What's your name?"

"Hektor with a K." He replied, his red eyes shining.

"Hektor…what's your last name?" Percy asked.

Hektor turned and looked at the wall, "I renounced my last name."

At first, Percy thought he misheard the guy. How could someone renounce their last name? Why would they want to? However, one look at Hektor and he figured the poor guy must've been through a lot. That was what led to his next question.

"How'd you get those scars?" Percy asked.

Hektor looked down at his scarred torso. He brushed his finger along a few claw marks and burns. He looked back up at Percy with those rose-red eyes and a smile on his face, "Oh, these are just from some accidents. You know, playing too rough with my friends."

Percy knew he was lying. He could tell when his eyes refused to meet his while talking. He also was fidgeting, another sign of lying. Percy had experience with lying about scars, he did it in high school to hide the scars that he gained from years of battle with monsters.

Percy let it slide, "How'd you find this place?"

Hektor rubbed the back of his neck, "I uh, was hanging around downtown when that crazy bull guy threw a taxi at me. I stole a bike from Walmart and rode it as far as I could but it broke a few miles away from here, so I ran."

"Well, you're lucky to be alive. That bull guy was the Minotaur." Percy said.

"Minotaur? Like the one from the myths?" He asked.

"If you want to call them myths, then sure."

Hektor looked back at the bed and pulled on his shirt, "Well, what happens now?"

"Follow me." Percy said, walking out of the room. It was morning when they left the room. The sun was shining through the windows, Chiron was up and sitting on the living room couch.

"Percy!" Chiron said, "I see our guest is awake."

Hektor's jaw dropped, "He's a…horse."

"Centaur, my boy." Chiron said with a smile. He pointed to Percy, "This young man saved your life."

Percy's cheeks reddened, "Just doing my job."

"Well, I'll take it from here. You don't have chores today, Percy, I reckon last night took quite the toll on you."

"Thanks, sir." Percy said, walking out of the Big House.

He looked around at the rest of the camp, everyone else was already awake. He must've slept through breakfast because he noticed the Aphrodite campers making their way towards the arts and crafts building while the Ares and Hermes campers cross-trained in the arena. A couple of pegasus flew overhead.

Percy wasn't tired but he was definitely sore, he needed some time to relax, maybe some time at the bottom of the canoe lake would help him.

Annabeth Chase

"Alright everyone, I'm going to go check if Chiron needs help with anything, don't burn the cabin down while I'm gone, okay?" Annabeth called to her siblings as she slipped on her shoes.

"Aw come on, Annabeth," Malcolm whined, "We're totally responsible enough to be left alone!"

"Just saying, if I come back and the cabin is burnt down, I'm killing you and everyone involved." Annabeth said simply as she opened the door and stepped out of her cabin.

Annabeth made her way to the Big House, passing Clarisse who was currently slamming Connor Stoll on the arena floor repeatedly. She had heard of a cross-training event with the Ares cabin but opted not to participate because she knew it would only be a matter of time before her siblings and the Ares campers fought for real. Plus, they were usually opponents on capture the flag so teaching each other the same tactics that would be used was bound to cause some trouble later on.

The one odd thing Annabeth noticed was that Percy wasn't amongst any of the campers she saw. She didn't see him on a canoe at the canoe lake, not at the arena sparring, and not playing basketball or volleyball. If she had to guess, he was probably at the beach or in his cabin. She'd say hello to him later.

As soon as Annabeth reached the Big House, the door opened. Chiron and some camper who she had never seen before strolled out. The camper was wearing a black shirt with ripped blue jeans, he must've been new. She stopped and stared at the camper for a moment, observing his red eyes, which kind of creeped her out, and his blonde hair which was very similar to Jason's. Now that she thought about it, he looked like the anti-Jason sort of with his red eyes, only he was nowhere near as lean or muscular as the son of Jupiter.

"Ah, Annabeth!" Chiron said brightly, "This is our newest arrival." He motioned towards the red-eyed camper, "Meet Hektor. Hektor, this is Annabeth Chase, head counselor for cabin six."

"Hi." Hektor said nervously.

"Hi." Annabeth replied back, "Do we know his parentage yet?"

Chiron shook his head, "He appears to be unclaimed. Percy saved him last night and he said he didn't see any signs of him already being claimed."

Great. Annabeth thought.

Chiron looked at the archery range and noticed a few campers gathered around, waiting for lessons. He turned to Annabeth and said, "Annabeth, if you don't mind, I'd like for you to show Hektor around camp. I need to teach archery lessons."

Annabeth nodded and moved aside so the Centaur could gallop to the archery range. She turned her attention back to Hektor, who was blushing and looking at everything except her. She wasn't really intimidated by this guy, she could easily beat him if he tried anything funny, maybe even send him to the infirmary.

"Well, come on then." She said.

"Right!"

Annabeth led him to the first place that every camper had to know. The cabins. Unlike Percy's first time at camp, there were more cabins this time around. Cabins like the Hades cabin, Hecate cabin, and even the Hypnos cabin were standing proudly in their designated spots. A few other cabins were being constructed still.

"These are the cabins," She said, "Knock before you enter, some campers don't take to kindly to intruders, including mine."

"So, do I like, pick a cabin?" Hektor asked.

Dumbass. Annabeth thought. "No, definitely not." She said, "You get assigned based on who your parent is."

With that, Hektor got a dark look on his face. "My dad is dead, so is my stepmom." He said, "I don't have parents."

"Sorry to hear that," Annabeth said, "But that's not what I meant. I mean your other parent, your mom."

"I never knew my mom."

That was typical. She'd had this conversation countless times now, she knew exactly what to say. "There's a reason why. She's a goddess." She said, "Do you know any Greek myths?"

"Only a few." Hektor said.

"Well, I think you should know that the gods used to run around and have children with mortals. They still do. In fact, you're one of those children." She said.

"My mom was a…goddess?" He said, clearly overwhelmed by the idea.

"Yep, I'm not sure which one but definitely a goddess." Annabeth said.

"What about you? Are you a goddess?" He asked.

Annabeth chuckled. If she knew any better, she would've thought he was flirting with her, "No, only part goddess. My mother is Athena. Goddess of Wisdom and battle strategy."

"Wait, I don't know my mom. How am I supposed to find a cabin?" He asked.

"You don't." She said, "Since we can't assign you a cabin based on your parentage, we'll have to put you in cabin eleven. The Hermes cabin. They're good people, you'll be fine. Just watch your stuff around them."

"Okay then."

Annabeth continued the tour, showing him the volleyball court, the amphitheater, the canoe lake where the Demeter campers were currently canoeing, and the arena. Hektor and Annabeth watched as Clarisse judo-flipped a Hermes camper. Annabeth watched with amusement while Hektor winced.

"That looked like it hurt." He said.

"It probably did." Annabeth agreed, "That was Clarisse, daughter of Ares. Try not to get on her bad side, the toilet water won't save you this time."

"What?"

"Nothing, inside joke." She smirked, "Come on, let me show you the dining pavilion."

They were alone at the dining pavilion. Breakfast had already passed, which meant the place was a ghost town. Annabeth was explaining the tables when she noticed Hektor nervously eyeing her again.

"Something wrong?" She asked.

"No, not at all." He said, "You're just um…really pretty."

"I'm taken, that's what I am." She replied. She'd had plenty of boys make a move on her, this wasn't anything new.

"What?"

"I-have-a-boyfriend." She said, saying each word slowly, "I assume you've already met Percy?"

"The guy with the green eyes? He saved my life by killing the Minotaur." He said.

"Yeah, he's a son of Poseidon and two-time savior of Olympus. He also happens to be my boyfriend."

Hektor's eyes widened, "I'm so sorry! I had no idea! Please don't tell him that I said anything."

Annabeth laughed, "You're good. You didn't know."

Hektor sighed out of relief, "Thank you."

Annabeth walked over and took a seat at her table and motioned for him to sit across from her. "Tell me about yourself." She said.

"Um, I don't think that's a good idea." He said while sitting down.

"Oh come on, it can't be that bad. Plenty of us have gone through some shit." Annabeth said, "Even Percy didn't have a amazing life before he came here."

"Fine, I'll tell you, but please don't tell anyone." He said.

Annabeth motioned for him to go on.

He sighed, "Well, I didn't have a good home life before I got here. Actually, I was on the run when I got caught by the Minotaur."

"Why were you on the run?"

He shrugged, "I just couldn't take it anymore. For the past sixteen years, my dad and stepmom hated me. Anytime I did something good, they'd compare me to my cousins or say that it wasn't a big deal. Like this one time, I was on my middle school's soccer team and they didn't even show up on any of my games. And that wasn't even the worst of it."

"What was the worst?" Annabeth asked, not sure if she wanted to know.

"My dad was constant smoker. Smoked like twelve packs a day and made me give him my lunch money for them. I forgot to give him my money before I left one time and I got screamed at the second I walked through the door. After that, he said that I wasn't worth anymore than a ash tray so he started putting his cigarettes out on me."

Annabeth wasn't sure if she wanted to know anymore about the extent of this guy's abuse. She'd heard some pretty horrible stories but that never made it easier. Each story felt like a punch in the gut and always left her wondering how mortals could be capable of such cruelty. People like Gabe.

"The good news was that he wasn't always home." He said from across the table.

"What?" She asked, "Why?"

Hektor smirked, "He was a businessman. Not a honest one though. He had a talent for ripping people off, he earned millions off of getting people to screw themselves over."

"What about your stepmom?"

He shrugged, "She was one of my teachers at high school. She hated me from day one. I never did anything to her but she was one of those teachers who had a attitude the second you walked into class."

"She was a teacher though, she couldn't hurt you though, right?" Annabeth asked. She knew abuse was taken pretty seriously in schools. She'd heard stories of teachers being dragged out of class in handcuffs for abusing a student.

"In class, you're right." Hektor agreed, "That didn't mean she made my life any easier. She gave me entire packets weekly while everyone else had less work. It never even did anything for my grades. Now, at home it was a different story. I'd say she hit me more than my dad did but he always turned a blind eye."

Annabeth didn't want to hear anymore. This was bad enough. She decided to change the subject, "Well, what about monsters? Did they ever bother you?"

"No." Hektor said, "My dad's house was in a gated community. I never saw anything close to a monster."

Annabeth wondered how this guy went under the radar of every monster so far. Then she remembered he said something about his dad being a smoker. That was it. The smell of cigarette smoke must've been hiding his demigod scent, just like how Gabe's disgusting habits hid Percy's scent.

"Well, now that you're not there anymore, the monsters are going to start coming. A lot of monsters don't care if you're claimed or not. If they smell you, they'll want to kill you." She explained, "We train almost everyday here at camp to make sure we can fight back."

"So, I won't have to run away every time I see a monster?" He asked.

"Nope." Annabeth shook her head, "Once you get a weapon and enough training, you'll be able to handle yourself out there in the real world. If you want to, you can stay here at camp if you want. I used to do that before I met Percy."

"What's the deal with that Percy guy?" He asked, "You said he was your boyfriend."

"He's…interesting. He's been through a lot and is pretty much the guy everyone around here looks up to. He led us during one of our biggest battles, a lot of us wouldn't be alive if it weren't for him."

Hektor looked back at the campgrounds, "Do you think he'll help train me?"

"Of course, he's the best swordsman at camp. You'll definitely have a few lessons with him but I'll warn you now, he's not gentle." Annabeth said with a knowing smile.

"Great." He groaned, "Well, can I go find my cabin now?"

With a nod, Annabeth watched him leave. She had a feeling there was something rather odd about him, she just didn't know what.